Hooker, J. D. and A. [C. L. G.] Günther (eds.)
An account of the petrological, botanical and zoological collections made in Kerguelen's Land and Rodriguez during the Transit of Venus Expeditions, carried out by order of her Majesty's Government in the years 1874-75.- London, The Royal Society of London, 1879. Large 4to (29.7 x 23.1 cm). ix, 579 pp., 55 lithographed plates. Original embossed cloth. Gilt title (of the Philosophical Transactions Extra volume) on the spine.l A fine collection of studies, principally on the various zoological and botanical subjects relating to two remote and very little-explored islands in the Indian Ocean, but also on their geology, which was regarded to be deviant from the usual oceanic islands geology. Kerguelen has sub-Antarctic fauna and flora. The general botanical observations were made by Sir John Hooker, and five other botanists dealt with several taxonomical groups; the zoology part includes illustrated papers on birds by Bowdler Sharpe and Saunders, Mollusca by E. A. Smith, fish by Günther, Lepidoptera by Eaton, Coleoptera by Waterhouse, Collembola by Lubbock, etc., etc., etc.; The tropical Rodriguez material was treated by Balfour, Mitten, Crombie, Berkeley and Dicky (various botanical subjects), and the zoology by the aforementioned authors (e.g. Günther on Reptilia, Smith on Mollusca, Butler on Orthoptera, etc., etc.). Of special interested is a section on the extinct bird-fauna, including the osteology of the solitaire, by Newton, and again reptiles by Günther. Many new species are described and figured. One plate of a Kerguelen Island duck is hand-coloured. This is the complete Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Vol. 168 (Extra Volume), that is: it was published outside the normal series, and deals only with the above subjects. A list of works published by the Royal Society is pasted on the front pastedown. Unmarked. Spine a bit sunned, binding a trifle weak due to the heavy book block. A very good copy. [Attributes: Hard Cover]
[Bookseller: Antiquariaat Schierenberg]